Arman Marefati is a 30-year-old Kurdish citizen from Saqqez, Kurdistan Province.

Arrest

Marefati was arrested by security forces in Tehran during the protests of 8 and 9 January 2026.

He was arrested in the same case as Ashkan Maleki and Mehrdad Mohammadinia, two Kurdish political prisoners who were later executed in Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj.

During interrogation in a security detention facility, the three men were subjected to physical and psychological torture to extract forced confessions.

Following the end of the interrogation period, Maleki and Mohammadinia were transferred to Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj, while Marefati was transferred to Greater Tehran Central Penitentiary.

Judicial Process

In March 2026, Branch 15 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Tehran, presided over by Judge Abolghassem Salavati, sentenced Marefati and his co-defendants Mohammadinia and Maleki to death without access to a lawyer of their choosing.

The judiciary-affiliated Mizan news agency said he had been sentenced to death on charges of “participation in operational acts against national security on behalf of the Zionist regime and the hostile US government, and hostile groups and agents affiliated with them, which led to terror, panic and the creation of insecurity in society, as well as entering religious and sacred places with the intention of destroying and setting fire to public and private property, including a mosque and a seminary, with the aim of confronting the sacred system of the Islamic Republic of Iran”.

The Supreme Court upheld the sentence after a rushed review.

Current Status

Marefati is currently being held in Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj.

Additional Information

On 25 May 2026, Marefati was summoned to the prison guard office and transferred out of the Greater Tehran Central Penitentiary under the pretext of being sent to Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj, raising serious concerns that his death sentence may be carried out imminently.